What is the Image to PDF Converter?
The Image to PDF Converter takes whatever pile of images you have — PNG screenshots, JPG camera shots, WebP files from a download, BMP from an old scanner, GIF from a Slack message, HEIC straight from an iPhone — and combines them into a single multi-page PDF. One file, one drag, one click. No sorting by format first. No "this tool only accepts PNG" rejections halfway through.
It's the entry point when you don't know what format you have, or you have a mix. That's most real-world batches. Your phone shoots HEIC, your laptop screenshot tool produces PNG, your camera writes JPG, the thing someone AirDropped you might be anything. If you want a PDF out the other end, you don't want to think about any of that.
The tool runs entirely in your browser. PNG and JPG embed natively into the PDF via pdf-lib. WebP, GIF, and BMP decode through the browser's built-in image loader and re-encode as JPG at 92% quality. HEIC files load a WebAssembly libheif decoder on demand and convert the same way. Your files never go to a server. There is no upload step. There is no watermark. There is no file-size cap measured in megabytes per minute.
How to use it
The flow is short on purpose. Four steps, no signup, no plan picker.
- Drop your images onto the page, or click to pick them from a folder. Mix formats freely.
- Reorder pages with the arrow buttons next to each thumbnail. Top of the list becomes page 1.
- Click "Convert to PDF." Progress shows per image — fast for PNG and JPG (native embed), a moment slower for HEIC (the WASM decoder runs).
- Click Download. The file is named after your first image plus a count suffix:
vacation.jpg + 7 othersbecomesvacation-and-7-more.pdf.
The page size of each PDF page matches the source image's pixel dimensions, treated as points (72 points per inch). A 4032×3024 photo produces a 4032×3024-point page. Aspect ratio is preserved. Nothing is cropped or stretched.
Why one tool instead of four
The competition splits this job into format-specific tools. iLovePDF has a JPG to PDF tool and a separate PNG to PDF tool. SmallPDF does the same. Convertio gives you a dropdown to pick "JPG → PDF" and refuses anything else once you pick it. That made sense in 2014 when every format needed bespoke server-side handling. It doesn't make sense now, and it adds friction every time.
Here's the real workflow it breaks. You have 12 photos for an insurance claim. Eight came from your iPhone (HEIC), three from a friend who used Android (JPG), one is a screenshot of a receipt (PNG). On iLovePDF you'd have to convert the HEIC files to JPG first in one tool, then move all 12 JPGs into the JPG-to-PDF tool, then combine. Three tools, two intermediate files, twice the uploads. Here, you drop all 12 in at once and click convert.
The rule: if you need format-specific copy or features, we have dedicated tools — PNG to PDF, JPG to PDF, WebP to PDF, HEIC to PDF. For the everyday "I have a folder of images, make a PDF" case, this is the right entry point.
Format support, in plain English
Different image formats embed differently inside a PDF. You don't need to think about this, but here's what's happening when you click convert.
| Input format | How it's embedded | Transparency preserved? | Typical size in PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | Native (pdf-lib embedPng) | Yes | ≈ source size |
| JPG / JPEG | Native (pdf-lib embedJpg) | N/A — JPG has no alpha | ≈ source size |
| WebP | Canvas → JPG at 92% | No — painted white | Similar to JPG re-encode |
| GIF | Canvas → JPG at 92% (first frame) | No — painted white | Similar to JPG re-encode |
| BMP | Canvas → JPG at 92% | N/A — BMP rarely has alpha | Much smaller than source BMP |
| HEIC / HEIF | libheif WASM → JPG at 92% | N/A — HEIC photos don't have alpha | Similar to original HEIC |
Two practical takeaways. First, PNG keeps transparency — useful for logos, UI screenshots with rounded corners, anything with a transparent background. Second, the non-PNG formats get re-encoded as JPG, which doesn't support alpha; any transparent pixels become white. If you have a transparent WebP that you really need to keep transparent in the PDF, convert it to PNG first with our Image Format Converter, then drop it in here.
A worked example
Here's what a real conversion looks like, end to end, with real numbers.
You're filing an expense report. You have nine receipts: four PNG screenshots from email confirmations (≈ 200 KB each), three JPG camera photos of paper receipts (≈ 2.5 MB each), and two HEIC photos from your iPhone of taxi receipts (≈ 3 MB each).
- Total input: (4 × 200 KB) + (3 × 2.5 MB) + (2 × 3 MB) = 0.8 + 7.5 + 6 ≈ 14.3 MB across 9 files.
- Output PDF: PNGs embed native (no size change), JPGs embed native (no size change), HEICs decode to ≈ 2 MB JPGs each. Final PDF: ≈ 12.3 MB.
- Time to convert on a 2022 MacBook Air: roughly 5 seconds total — most of it spent on the two HEIC decodes.
- Time spent uploading: zero. Nothing left your machine.
The same job on iLovePDF would have meant converting the HEIC files to JPG in one tool, waiting for upload + processing + download, then uploading 9 JPGs to the JPG-to-PDF tool. Five to ten minutes including the waits. And every one of those images would have sat on someone else's server for at least a few minutes.
Privacy: not uploaded, actually
Half the "free online image to PDF converters" on the first page of Google upload your photos to their server, process server-side, and hand you a download link. iLovePDF does this. SmallPDF does this. Convertio does this. CloudConvert does this. Their privacy policies make varying claims about retention windows (24 hours, 2 hours, "we don't sell your data") but the point is the same: your images leave your machine.
For a meme this doesn't matter. For a receipt with your full name and credit card details, for a photo of a signed contract, for a medical scan, for a kid's birth certificate, for a passport — this matters.
This tool doesn't upload anything. The conversion pipeline runs in JavaScript inside the browser tab you have open. PNG and JPG embed via pdf-lib. WebP/GIF/BMP go through the browser's HTMLImageElement and canvas. HEIC goes through libheif compiled to WebAssembly. The output PDF is built in memory and handed to you as a download. Open your browser's Network tab during a convert and you'll see zero outbound requests.
Free is a fact, not a slogan. No account, no watermark, no daily limit, no "upgrade to convert more than 3 files per hour." The same tool everyone gets.
Limits and edge cases
The browser is fast but it's not infinite. A few honest constraints.
- 20 MB per image, 100 MB combined. Phone photos average 2–4 MB, so the practical batch ceiling is roughly 25–50 images. For a bigger job, do it in chunks and merge with PDF Merger.
- Animated GIFs and WebPs use the first frame. PDF has no native animation, so there's no way to keep the motion. If you genuinely need each frame as a separate page, you'd need a frame extractor first — that's a tool we haven't built yet.
- HEIC is fast but not instant. The libheif WASM bundle is ≈ 600 KB and only loads when a HEIC file is in your batch. Non-HEIC batches pay zero cost. HEIC photos decode at roughly 1–3 seconds each on a recent laptop, longer on a phone.
- One page per image, sized to the image. If you need uniform US Letter or A4 pages with margins, pre-resize the images or use a desktop layout tool. This converter is intentionally a thin wrapper — image in, page out, same dimensions.
Related tools
If you know your format up front, the dedicated tools have format-specific copy and the same engine underneath:
- PNG to PDF — for screenshots and logos. Keeps transparency.
- JPG to PDF — for camera photos. Most common single-format batch.
- HEIC to PDF — for iPhone photos. Skips the "export to JPG first" detour.
- TIFF to PDF — for scanned documents from office scanners and fax machines. Handles multi-page TIFFs.
- WebP to PDF — for the format that's slowly taking over the web.
And after you've made your PDF, you'll probably want one of these:
- PDF Merger — to stitch multiple PDFs together (useful for big batches done in chunks).
- Compress PDF — to shrink the output if it came out larger than you wanted.
- Rotate PDF — for the inevitable sideways page from a photo taken in portrait.
- Reorder PDF Pages — if you missed a reordering before converting and don't want to start over.
Frequently asked questions
Why one tool instead of separate format-specific tools?
Because users don't always know what format they have, and they often have a mix. A vacation folder is usually JPG (camera) plus HEIC (phone) plus the odd PNG (screenshot of a confirmation email). Forcing you to sort by format before converting is friction. This tool accepts whatever you've got. If you specifically want format-tuned copy, the dedicated tools (PNG to PDF, JPG to PDF, HEIC to PDF, WebP to PDF) are right there.
Are my images really not uploaded?
Yes. Every conversion runs in your browser. PNG and JPG embed directly. WebP/GIF/BMP go through the browser's native image loader and canvas. HEIC uses libheif compiled to WebAssembly, also in the browser. Zero outbound requests during convert. Open your browser's Network tab during a conversion to verify yourself.
What page size will my PDF use?
Each PDF page is sized to its source image's exact pixel dimensions, treated as points (72 points per inch). A 4032×3024 photo produces a 4032×3024-point page. Aspect ratio is preserved without cropping or scaling. If you need uniform US Letter or A4 pages, pre-resize the images to those dimensions first.
Will the PDF preserve transparency from PNG?
For PNG inputs, yes — transparency comes through into the PDF. Non-PNG formats (WebP, GIF, BMP, HEIC) get re-encoded as JPG, which doesn't support transparency. Anywhere those images were transparent gets painted white before encoding.
Why is my PDF much bigger than the sum of my images?
It usually isn't — for PNG and JPG inputs, the embedded size is almost identical to the source. Bigger PDFs happen with HEIC: a 3 MB HEIC decodes to roughly a 2–3 MB JPG inside the PDF, so 10 HEICs become a ~25 MB PDF. For a smaller output, resize the images to ~1500×1000 before converting (still print quality), or run the result through Compress PDF.
What about animated GIFs and WebPs?
The tool uses the first frame. PDFs don't support animation, so there's no way to preserve the motion. If you need each frame as a separate page, you'd need to extract frames first with a different tool.
What's the maximum batch size?
20 MB per image, 100 MB combined. Typical phone photos are 2–4 MB so the practical batch is 25–50 images. For bigger jobs, batch in chunks and merge with PDF Merger.